Late at Night
by T.W.Kidd
Summary: Despite their separation, Kogoro and Eri need each other. Late at night, they find their way to each other.


Eri looked at herself in the mirror. Face cleaned of make-up, hair wet and hanging from her shower, she was entirely herself. She felt refreshed and soothed. She rubbed cool lotion over her cheeks, letting the act become tactile and pleasing instead of obligatory. The house was quiet, even Goro had fallen asleep for the night. He layed on her bed, curled contently in the half-dark of the bedroom. She jumped to her feet when she heard two quiet, but firm, knocks at the front door.

She froze, her heart leaping into her throat. It was after midnight. She grabbed her cell phone and clutched it to her chest. The silence of the house rang in her ears. Had she imagined it? She crept silently toward the door when the two more knocks startled her.

"Open up, Eri, it's me," came a familiar voice, muffled by the door. Her fear was overcome by annoyance. She opened the door, hand on her hip, to see Kogoro leaning against the doorframe.

"You smell like beer." She said, wrinkling her nose. He also smelled of sour sweat and cigarettes. His shirt was open at the collar and rumpled by the train ride, no sign of a tie or jacket. He didn't seem unsteady but he was using the doorframe to hold himself up. He didn't meet her eye.

"I probably do," was all he answered as he moved past her and into the apartment. Eri clicked on the lamp as he fell into the couch. It was not the first time he'd done this. She went to the kitchen and filled a glass with water.

"Where's Ran?" She asked, her tone a little gentler as she offered the water. He did not take it.

"At home. She was asleep hours ago." He replied, resting his elbows on his knees, staring at the ground between his feet. Eri wondered for a second if he was going to be sick. He rubbed his eyes and sighed softly.

"Drink some water, _anata_." She said, holding the glass out again.

As he was instructed, Kogoro took a long drink of water. He drained the glass. He hadn't realized how dehydrated he was. Eri, without asking or being asked, took it and refilled it for him. She set it on the table. She sat on the couch next to him, their legs touching, close enough to smell his aftershave. His shoulders began to shudder and his voice cracked as he spoke to her. He still did not look up.

"I can't sleep." He said. She nodded. Eri had been following the case in the papers. She'd seen his grinning face on the front page two days in a row now, exalting Sleeping Kogoro for aiding in the capture of another violent murderer. She leaned her head against his shoulder and rubbed his back in small, slow circles. She'd read the accounts of the crime scene, the tender age of the victim, and the falsely grieving father.

"You must be tired." She said to him. He turned and buried his face against her neck, pulling her against him. He gripped her tightly, grasping, to feel to weight of her against him. He was not crying, but only because he was trying very hard not to do so. She held him until he spoke again.

"Oh, Eri," He said, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. A few tears had found their way down his face. She wiped his cheeks with her thumb. She took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together. He did not tell her of the bloody crime scenes he saw whenever he closed his eyes. He did not tell of the screams and sobs and smell of gun powder that infected his dreams. He did not tell her of running to Ran's room in the middle of the night, shaking with fear, only to find her sleeping peacefully beneath her covers.

He did not have to. She already knew. He offered her a half-smile, his natural bravado fighting through.

"It's been a long few weeks." He said off-handedly, running his fingers through his hair, trying to push it all back into place. He blushed slightly at his display. Eri smoothed his collar and buttoned his shirt for him. He felt her soft hands brush against his neck as she made him look respectable again. She still used to same peony lotion she always had. He leaned into her touch.

"Rest, _anata_." She said. He laid back on the couch with the ease of someone who was very much at home. Eri massaged his tired calves and his sore feet. She knew exactly where to lay her hands, to apply pressure, to handle gently, the map of his body was familiar to her. She read his skin like braille under her fingertips. She knew where he was hurting. He tucked his arms under his head and was still and quiet. His eyes closed. Kogoro had slunk into this apartment on many different nights. Sometimes drunk, sometimes sober. Always late at night. The minutes ticked by. Her hands ceased their work and she found herself dozing.

"Eri?" He said quietly, rousing her. She thought he had fallen asleep. His eyes were open now, looking at her. She smiled. Those eyes, even after all these years, still made her heart flutter.

"Kogoro?" She answered. He extended his arms out to her without speaking. Not a demand nor a request. It stated only fact. _'Here,'_ the gesture said _'this is where you belong.'_ She moved into the space next to him. He curled around her, arms wrapped around her waist, his face pressed into the nape of her neck. The couch was small but they were so close to each other that they both fit. He nuzzled her gently, the alcohol and emotion making his movement clumsy, his lips falling absently against her skin. Goosebumps rose over her arms and legs and she giggled quietly. She felt him smile when she did. Now he did fall asleep.

Eri tried to stay awake. She cupped her hands over his and drank in the sensation of his knuckles. She luxuriated in the sound of his breath in her ear. She wanted to memorize every sensation, every nuance, because she could not know when they'd come again. Eventually, she fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

On nights like these, neither ever apologized or asked forgiveness. Neither spoke of reconciliation or regret. Somehow, these nights existed outside of all their other problems. There was no world other than the shape of each other. There was only the warm familiarity of two hearts meeting again. Marriage, divorce, pride, shame… those were all concepts of the outside world. They meant nothing in the dark of the night together.

Kogoro's watch began to beep and woke them a few hours later. He shifted, trying to free his arm from beneath Eri enough to silence it. She blearily rubbed her eyes and yawned. It was nearly dawn, the sky gray and the birds beginning to caw noisily outside the window. They disentangled with some difficulty.

"Ran will be up soon." Eri said knowingly. Kogoro nodded and stood up. As the sun crept ever closer to the horizon, the weight of their reality began to show itself. Eri embraced him from behind. They didn't say good-bye. They couldn't pretend that all of their wounded pride and strife had disappeared overnight but they could, for just one more moment, simply love each other. So they did.

* * *

Korogo leaned back in his office chair, his feet propped up on his desk. He watched the late night news with little interest. He stuck his cigarette into the overfull ashtray and stretched his long arms up and over his head. It was getting late. He was supposed to be filing away the papers from his last case but they were still scattered over his desktop. Maybe he'd do it tomorrow. He yawned. Definitely, he'd do it tomorrow. He pushed his office chair back when he heard a serious of quick taps at his door. He looked at his watch. A client at this hour?

He pulled the door open and saw, instead, Eri on his step. She looked up at him. He could not tell if she were angry or embarrassed. Knowing her, it was probably both.

"What're you doing here?" He asked, narrowing his eyes. To anyone who didn't know her, she looked as clean and professional as always. To Kogoro, he could see she was a mess. He could see stray hairs falling out of her bun, the small snag in her stockings, her lipstick smudged and her eye shadow sloppy. She didn't bother to scowl at him or insult him. She only shifted the weight of her bag and pushed him out of her way. She collapsed onto the couch, dropping the bag on the floor beside her.

"Kogoro, I may go mad." She said irately. He smiled and shut the door. This was not the first time she had done this. He turned the dead bolt and sat opposite her, the coffee table between them.

"Over what?" He asked. Frantically, passionately, she began to unravel the tale of her newest client who lied to officers, lied to judges, lied to her and then lied again in front of the jury. She told him of the stack of injunctions and court orders piling up on her desk. The never ending phone calls from some criminal desperate to make a plea deal to shorten a sentence that was already less than he deserved. The taxis that ran late, the meetings that started early, the up-before-dawn and home-after-dark days. He let her talk without interruption for nearly ten full minutes. After all this, she cradled her forehead in her hand and repeated:  
"Kogoro, I may go mad."

He knew what was eating away at her, though in all her talking she never even alluded to it. Eri, the star athlete, the perfect student, the beauty queen, the best trial lawyer in Tokyo was overwhelmed. She felt her visage of perfection cracking and crumbling around her. She felt like she wasn't good enough. She felt like a fraud. Kogoro stood up with a heave and he walked silently into the kitchen. He had seen her like this more than once. He grabbed two beer cans. He walked back into the room and pushed one of the cans into her hand.

"Tell them to go to hell," He said simply, tipping his own can towards her. She looked at him, confused for a moment. She pulled the tab on her beer and took a long swallow. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes delicately, so as to not smudge her make-up.

"Don't be cruel, Kogoro," She said. Kogoro fell into the couch next to her, his arm stretching along the back of the couch behind her head.

"I'm serious," He said nonchalantly "Tell them that if they think that they're can find a single lawyer in Japan who can do the job nearly as well as you can, then they can go to hell. Then show them the door." He laughed boisterously. After a hesitation, Eri joined him.

"I'm exhausted." She sighed, still smiling. She leaned her head against him. He knew her mascara would leave black stains on his shirt. He knew her perfume would rub on him.

"Have you eaten today?" He asked. She slowly shook her head back and forth.

"I'm not hungry." She said stubbornly. He tapped her head firmly, chidingly.

"You need to eat, Eri. Come on, I sure Ran's left something in the fridge." He took her hand and guided her toward the kitchen. He leaned into the fridge, inspecting the contents. Ran, as always, had neatly pack snacks and lunches prepared for him to eat while working. Eri stood behind him, holding the beer can with two hands. Kogoro finally pulled out a lunchbox and turned to her. She looked at him, those soft blue eyes drawn by stress and fatigue, her lips quivering in a barely maintained smile. How was he supposed to tell her everything was going to be okay? How could he explain to her that she was the strongest woman he knew? How could he put into words that all her worry was nonsense because she was twice as smart as anyone she had ever met?

"Here," Was all he said. She smiled, tears threatening the corner of her eyes, as she took the offering.

"Thank you, Kogoro." She said. She understood.

She sat down on the couch and ate ravenously. Kogoro sat next to her and finished his drink. He lit a cigarette and rested his feet on the coffee table. He had seen her go days without eating a proper meal, somehow surviving only on coffee and tea.

"I think I needed that," she admitted when she finished. Kogoro didn't answer her. She pulled her feet underneath her and leaned against him again. This time he draped an arm over her, feeling her breath make a warm spot against his chest. She gripped his shirt in her fingers and sighed heavily.

"I could kiss you, you dumb man." She said.

"I could let you." He answered knowingly. She tilted her head toward him and, one hand behind his head, kissed him. She moved and pushed her body against him. His hands followed a path down her back and over her stomach that they had travelled a hundred times. She moved more urgently against him.

"Kogoro…?" She said, blushing slightly. He nodded and kissed her lightly. She had done this before.

They made love. Not wild passionate animal sex, not gentle romantic coupling. They made love in the comfortable familiar way of two people who had memorized each other's body, inch by inch. Kogoro knew where to kiss and touch and stroke to make Eri gasp and moan. He knew by memory the curves of her thighs, the taste of her skin. He put his fingers to her lips and gave her half-hearted warnings to be quiet and was given soft laughter in return. When they were finished, they lay gasping side by side on the couch, Eri hiding beneath Kogoro's discarded shirt as if it were a blanket.

Kogoro kissed her, lovingly wiping beaded sweat away. He could feel the rapid beating of his heart beneath where Eri rested her head. Her finger sleepily played up and down his bare chest. Kogoro took her hand in his and held it. She nestled more closely to him for a moment and then stood, clutching the shirt to her chest. She climbed over him and headed down the hallway to clean up.

Kogoro began to gather their flung-away clothes, pulling on his boxes and pants. He pieced together her suit and left it laying outside the bathroom door for her. He sat down on the couch expectantly. The bathroom door opened and shut. There was a moment of silence and then she softly called his name. He grinned to himself.

"What is it, Eri?" He asked, standing outside the bathroom, speaking through the door.

"You didn't bring me all my clothes." She said vaguely. Kogoro, clutching her pink bra in one hand laughed to himself.

"I'm sure I did." He answered.

"Kogoro, look again." She pleaded.

"What am I looking for?" He asked innocently. She cracked the door to speak to him, blushing pink. She saw the prize in his hand and gasped.

"Kogoro! Give it here!" She demanded. Kogoro held the underwear up admiringly.

"I may keep it, hang it on the wall like a hunting trophy." He teased. "Maybe I'll frame it!"

"You'll do no such thing!" She shouted.

"Shhh!" He warned mockingly "You'll wake Ran and Conan."

"Mouri Kogoro you give me…that… right now!" She said, lowering her voice harshly. He grinned deviously and shrugged, letting the bra hang from his fingertip. Just far enough that she'd have to open the door to reach him. She growled dangerously and shut the door. When she emerged, she was holding his shirt to her chest. He devoured the sight of her bare shoulders, the dip of her collar bone, the curve of her bare waist.

"There's my girl." He said in an awed whisper. He had not meant to sound so impressed. He did not pull away when she snatched her bra away from him.

"Honestly." She scoffed, turning on her heel. Kogoro waited for her outside the door. His watch said that it was nearly three a.m. It seemed like it had only been minutes since he'd opened the door for her. She emerged, fully dressed, hair and make-up impeccable. She held Kogoro's shirt in her hand.

"I should get going." She said, "We both have to get to work in a few hours."

 _Stay_. The word floated between them, crossed both their minds, but neither of them said it. They both knew better by now. They stood in the small hallway, a breath away from each other. Eri handed him the shirt. Kogoro laid a hand on Eri's cheek, offering one more kiss instead of a goodbye. She descended the stairs out of the office. He stood at the windows until her taillights were too far away to follow. All at once, he was all alone again. He shut off the lights in the office and climbed the stairs to the apartment. Conan was already fast asleep in the cot next to his bed, snoring slightly. Kogoro shifted out of his clothes and into his pajamas.

He tossed his pants and socks into the laundry hamper. He held onto the shirt. He rubbed the material on his cheek, smelling Eri's perfume. He closed his eyes and believed he could feel the warmth from her skin left behind in the fibers. He believed he could feel the imprint of her beneath his fingers again. But, it was all wishful thinking. He'd let her walk out that door and never asked her to stop.

With resignation, he crawled into his bed alone.


End file.
